For most of baseball, Sunday’s final out brought the familiar promise of another season in the spring. In San Francisco and Seattle, it also meant saying goodbye to voices that had been part of the game for decades.
Mike Krukow finished his final Giants broadcast alongside Duane Kuiper. Rick Rizzs called his last Mariners game. A week earlier, Howie Rose had signed off from the Mets’ radio booth. Together, their departures made the end of the 2026 season feel a little more personal.
Fans get used to change. Players arrive and leave. Managers are replaced. Even ballparks disappear. A familiar broadcaster can stay through all of it, introducing the newcomers, remembering the old favorites and giving a summer its rhythm. After enough years, it becomes difficult to imagine the team without that voice.
In San Francisco, there were two names said almost as one: Kruk and Kuip.
Krukow’s retirement ends a 36-year run in the Giants’ booth. The club marked his last day by naming the broadcast booth at Oracle Park for him and Kuiper, with their grandchildren helping reveal the tribute after the first inning. It was a lovely way to recognize a partnership that had become familiar to generations of fans. 1
At the postgame ceremony, Kuiper recalled shared meals, old adventures and the little things he would miss about working with his friend. Krukow’s thanks extended beyond the famous players and managers to the people who had worked behind the scenes to bring those broadcasts home. 1
“I can honestly tell you, my friend, it’s been a blast,” Kuiper said. 2
That was the appeal of their partnership: the feeling of watching baseball with two friends who enjoyed the game and each other’s company. Sunday gave the audience a chance to thank them for the invitation.
In Seattle, Rizzs completed his 41st season with the Mariners. He first joined their broadcasts in 1983 alongside Dave Niehaus, then returned in 1995 after three seasons in Detroit. His time in the booth connected listeners to the breakthrough of 1995, the 116-win season in 2001 and all the less celebrated afternoons in between. 3
His last game brought a 7–3 Mariners win over the Angels. Before it began, he signed autographs for fans, including on a sign carrying his familiar “Holy Smokes!” call and a thank-you message. The game still mattered, but so did the chance to say goodbye. 4
Rizzs had spoken before the weekend about the sadness of leaving and the things he could now look forward to, including a trip to Rome during baseball season. After so many summers spent following the schedule, he would have a little more say over his own. Fans can miss him and be happy for him at the same time. 5
Rose had reached his final out a week earlier, on Sept. 20. The Mets postponed his retirement ceremony until Opening Weekend 2027 because of the weather, but the players still emerged to tip their caps toward his booth after the game. 6
“Radio is the most intimate medium,” Rose said in his farewell. “You have to call, to craft, to describe.” 6
A Mets fan from childhood, Rose began working on the team’s broadcasts in 1987 and became its lead radio play-by-play voice in 2006. He had grown up in the seats before finding his place above them, telling the story to everyone listening elsewhere. 7
The famous calls will be replayed for years. What fans may miss most, though, is harder to find in a highlight package: an explanation between pitches, a familiar laugh, the sound of someone keeping them company on an ordinary evening.
That is a large part of a broadcaster’s gift. Over hundreds of hours each season, the game becomes something shared.
Next spring will bring new lineups and another first pitch. For many fans, it will also bring a moment of reaching for the radio or turning on the television and wishing, just once more, to hear that familiar hello.
